


Fatum

by agnetasteam



Series: Da Vinci's Demons Ficlets [5]
Category: Da Vinci's Demons
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:28:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22217785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agnetasteam/pseuds/agnetasteam
Summary: Perhaps that Riario kidnapped the Basilisk was meant to happen.
Series: Da Vinci's Demons Ficlets [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1597405
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Fatum

Leonardo was at the stern of Americo's caravel trying to calculate how long it would take to return to Florence. The provisions they had were reduced, and they had to ration them wisely. Luckily, Américo had collected food during his tour, although most with eyes and Leonardo hoped to reach their destination without having betrayed his food principles.  
Nico had retired to sleep after eating fried fish and he assumed that Zo and Américo had imitated him.  
The truth was that he was already sleepy and needed a rest too. That trip had wreaked havoc on his routine and energy; he felt he had aged five or six years.  
Resigned, he decided to go down to the cabin he shared with Zoroaster; but before arriving he stopped at the door where Girolamo remained unconscious.  
"Checking on Riario again?" Zoroaster asked, startling the artist.  
He was lying on the wall and Leonardo wondered if Zo had stayed there waiting for him to appear and since when.  
"That's right," he replied simply.  
However, when he was going to open the door Zoroaster got in the way.  
"Why do you do it?"  
"Why do I do it? Because his fever goes up and down every so often and Nico is resting. Now let me pass.”  
"What does his fever matter? Since when does it matter if he dies?" interrupted his furious friend."  
"How does it matter? If he dies of a simple fever, all the effort we did in fixing his leg, in carrying him to the coast and these days of care, everything would have been in vain."  
Zoroaster took his forehead, frustrated that Leonardo saw no flaws in his logic. He armed himself with patience to keep from screaming again; he didn't want to wake the others, but he needed Leo to come to his senses.  
"Do you think that, if the circumstances were reversed, he would be devoting the same efforts and resources to save any of us?"  
"Zo," Leonardo knew that Zo and Riario hated each other and for now he didn't expect anything else. But he would make him understand his point of view and his reasons, "I can't let him die."  
“You can't let him die?” Zo was losing his calm. ”Do you want me to remind you why you should have let him die in the jungle? That murderer tortured Nico, threw me and Lucretia into the sea and made sure there was no way we survived... He attacked you and the Medici ... He set Florence into chaos. And as if it hadn't been enough, he killed the only person among us who liked him.  
"Zo, listen to me!"  
"Listen to me! You are wasting the little food we have. What will happen if one of us gets sick too? What will happen if supplies run out before we arrive?"  
"Zo, let me talk. I am trying to explain to you that if we are all three alive it is thanks to him."  
Zoroaster watched him, incredulous.  
"Of course not, we are safe thanks to you. You solved all the tests with your wits. You created those... those... whatever we used to escape from there!"  
Leonardo watched him without making comment and that caused him even more anger. He thought Leo would agree with him. But it would not be the first time Leonardo surprised him with his madness.  
"The only thing that damn did was kill and kill."  
"And that's why we are alive," said the artist, and before his best friend could protest, he continued: "because neither you nor Nico were going to pass that test, Zo. That Riario kidnapped the Basilisk was something that had to happen. Or would you have been able to kill... to kill Nico to get the antidote?  
Leonardo's words had a great effect on his friend. Zoroaster would not have wanted to be in that situation of having to choose between saving one friend or the other. Nor he had believed himself capable of killing those natives before they killed him. Maybe things were meant to happen that way, but it didn't mean he owed the Roman something.  
"No, I wouldn't have been able to kill Nico for you. But I wouldn't have put us on this trip either, to begin with. I warned you."  
And after saying that, he retired to his cabin leaving the way to Riario's room clear.


End file.
